After the Revolution
by buriedbehindbooks
Summary: One-shots from the Lunar Chronicles, set after Winter.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

 **Hello, everyone! I just had to write this because Kaider is so adorable. I might add some other one-shots of the other TLC ships later on, but as of now, I'm obsessed with Kaider.**

 **Disclaimer: The amazing Marissa Meyer owns the Lunar Chronicles and all of its characters.**

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Cinder stood on the balcony, overlooking the Eastern Commonwealth Palace. She had danced very few times, embarrassed to be the center of attention with Kai, but she felt proud for not tripping over her own feet. She had even danced once with Thorne, who smirked at her the entire time, calling her "Your Majesty" way too many times. But it was late in the night now, and she was exhausted after trying to avoid so many unwelcome questions and ignoring harsh comments.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" asked a voice behind her.

The Emperor and host of the ball. Kai.

"How did you manage to get away?" Cinder asked him as he moved closer to her.

"Iko and Thorne are currently providing entertainment for all the guests. They caused enough of a ruckus for me to leave unnoticed. I'm surprised no one else has found you yet. You're the queen of Luna, you know."

She turned to smile at him, and her breath hitched. This was their first private moment together. The first time she could look at him, without being assessed by thousands of judgmental people. It was the first time she allowed herself to _really_ look at him, his hair that was much neater than she liked, his beautiful eyes, his dazzling smile.

"Not for much longer, though," Cinder said, staring off into they sky, where the half moon illuminated a small patch of space.

Kai moved closer to wrap an arm around Cinder, the warmth from his body comforting to her, and she moved her head to rest on his chest.

"Come with me," he murmured to her, taking her hand and pulling her toward the building.

"You better not be making me dance again," Cinder grumbled.

Kai laughed. "No, I won't, but the rumors are going to be flying like crazy once everyone realizes that the two of us are missing."

"Do you care, though?" Cinder wondered aloud.

"If it means I can spend time with you, then no, I don't," Kai said, and Cinder's heart fluttered.

He led her through a secret entrance that allowed them to completely avoid any other human contact, and Cinder had never been more grateful. Kai seemed to be very familiar with the passage, before he stopped abruptly in the empty corridor.

Kai pushed Cinder against the wall and gently began kissing her. Cinder loved this feeling, being pressed against Kai, treated so carefully. She kissed him back, harder, and opened her mouth against his.

"Careful, Cinder," Kai said against her lips. "The ballroom is right behind you. If we get too loud, the guests will start to wonder what's going on."

Cinder leaned back to glare at him. "You had to take me right next to the place I'm trying to avoid?"

Kai put his hands up in mock surrender. "To be fair, it is a huge ballroom. It'd take too long to walk anywhere else.

Cinder sighed, wanting too much to kiss him to argue.

When they returned, making sure to stagger their entrances, Thorne was more than happy to point out to Cinder that Kai's hair looked a lot messier than usual, and the back of Cinder's gown was rumpled, and Kai had to hold Cinder back from pushing Thorne off the balcony.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

 **Hi everyone! I got a 100 views on my first one-shot, so I'm adding another one! I wrote this very quickly and I didn't really proofread it, so let me know if there are any mistakes, including grammar and spelling. I've been so busy with school lately.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

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Cinder was tired of hearing Thorne's voice all day. She searched for Cress, who, along with Thorne had come to visit Luna, but no matter how desperately she tried looking for the petite blonde, Cinder couldn't find her.

"I'm thinking about painting my beautiful lady back onto my ship," Thorne was rambling off, now.

"I'm sure Cress would love that," Cinder replied dryly.

Thorne lit up. "Great idea, your Highness. I'll paint Cress on the Rampion."

"Oh yes, she'd love that even more." Cinder sulked through the hallways of the Luna palace, Thorne trailing behind.

"Woah, Cinder, don't worry, if you want me to paint you on the ship, I'll add you, too," Thorne said with a wink.

Cinder turned to face him with her fist clenched and raised.

"Settle down, your queenliness. You wouldn't want bad publicity," Thorne smirked.

"What if there was no one to prove that I did it?" Cinder countered.

Thorne sighed. "You were a lot more fun when we were fugitives."

Cinder fixed him with a glare. "I'm sure I could find a way to make you another perpetrator of the law."

Thorne laughed and threw an arm around her shoulders.

She grumbled and pushed her way out of his embrace, stalking down the hallway and into her room.

It had been 23 hours and 49 minutes, alone with Thorne, as if the stars couldn't punish Cinder enough. Somehow, she was able to resist the urge of using the gun that still remained in her cyborg hand. Just kidding. She wouldn't do that.

Probably.

The seconds ticked by, feeling more like days than they should have. Thorne was still talking about the Rampion, and Cinder was beginning to regret convincing President Vargas to let him keep the ship. It was definitely causing a lot more trouble for Cinder than it was worth.

Suddenly, the door to Cinder's too large closet sprang open, and Cress tumbled out, with Iko sauntering out behind her.

"I knew you could do it, Cinder!" Iko squealed.

"What?" Cinder asked, confused.

"You spent twenty-four hours with Thorne and you didn't kill him! Cress owes me big time!"

"You mean that you set this all up?" Cinder demanded, her voice becoming dangerously low.

Iko had the good graces to look slightly ashamed, but she still smiled.

"You love me, Cinder."

Cinder sighed. "Unfortunately, I do."

Thorne walked toward Cinder, his arm casually around Cress's shoulders.

"You know, I'm not usually _that_ annoying," Thorne said.

"You mean, you were a part of this?" Cinder asked.

"Well, duh," Iko said. "You've been way too uptight lately, with all your queenly duties. Lighten up a bit!"

"Thorne, you realize that I could've killed you, right?" Cinder said.

"Ah, but you love me too much for that," Thorne winked.

And because of that, Cinder actually did push Thorne off the balcony of her bedroom, Cress and Iko watching in near-horror as he fell two stories, though onto the soft grass below, swearing colorfully, and Cinder dusting her hands off and smiling.

"You know, if you'd just let me push Thorne off, I would've lightened up a lot more without having to spend an entire day with him."

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 **I really wanted the fall-off-the-balcony scene to happen too, so here it is! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked this! I'll try to add more one-shots soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

 **Sorry I haven't updated in so long, life has been really busy. I'm not too happy with this one-shot, and it's _really_ short, but I just felt like I had to add something.**

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The first time Wolf saw it was in the farm, dangling just within arm's reach. Red, smooth, and waxy in the sun's light, he was just about to pull it off the branch when he heard Scarlet's voice out in the distance, calling for help. The next day, a bird had pecked a hole into it, its fleshy, pale yellow insides showing.

The second time Wolf saw it was when he and Scarlet went aboard the Rampion with Cress and Thorne to visit Kai at the palace. It sat in a neat arrangement with several other fruits, in a setting much too lavish for him to just reach over and grab it.

The third time he saw it, a little boy was throwing it up and down, until his mother scolded him for playing with his food, and Wolf watched as the boy took a bite of it, chewing loudly.

The fourth time, Wolf was back at the farm, and the fruit was right in front of him. He gently picked it from the tree, before tentatively taking a bite. Crisp, sweet and succulent, so much better than anything he had ever tasted, aside from the tomatoes Scarlet had introduced him to at first. Before he knew it, he had devoured the entire thing, aside from the hard core in the middle, licking his fingers clean and reaching to harvest another.

Wolf returned to the house after grabbing an armful of these delicacies, snacking on them the whole way back.

"Scarlet!" he called to the red-haired girl, who was standing at the doorway with her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised. "These tomatoes are delicious! They're so sweet, and taste so different!"

Wolf couldn't figure out why Scarlet burst into hysterical laughter, on the verge on crying.

"Those aren't tomatoes," Scarlet said once she'd calmed down, though, her shoulders still shook from the effort to hold back her laugh. "Wolf, those are apples."


	4. Chapter 4

They never really had much time to actually see the world, so when Thorne took her to meadow at the beginning of spring, Cress had never been more excited in her life. The pretty wildflowers surrounded her, and she kneeled on the soft grass to make chains of them, as she had seen some Earthen girls do when they visited Kai.

Thorne looked hilarious as Cress adorned him with various forms of flower jewelry.

Cress continued to gather flowers throughout the meadow as Thorne watched with an amused smile, and then she spotted it.

Perched on delicate legs, with beautifully patterned wings, a mix of yellow and black with hints of blue and red, was a swallowtail butterfly.

Cress watched in awe. She had seen butterflies in pictures and in various websites she had scrolled through when she lived in the satellite, and of course, she had worn the wings of one back when she and Thorne were on Luna, but now Cress could say she had seen one _for real_.

The butterfly flapped its wings once, twice, before she watched it flutter to a nearby flower, its proboscis unfurling to drink from the flower's nectar.

"What're you looking at, Cress?" Thorne called from behind her.

She only beckoned for him to move closer, not wanting to frighten the creature.

"What's that— oh," Thorne said, as he reached Cress.

She felt him stiffen beside her, and turned to look. Thorne was eyeing the butterfly with a suspicious look, his expression drawn.

"Are you okay?" Cress asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll just be back there." He waved vaguely back to where he was standing before.

"Captain?" Cress asked. "Are you afraid of butterflies?"

"No!" Throne exclaimed, too soon, and as an attempt to cover for this, he said, "It's just that they look creepy, with their weird bodies and their huge eyes."

Cress giggled. "You _are_ scared!"

Thorne continued to protest, and Cress kept teasing him. She couldn't believe how the self-aggrandizing Captain Carswell Thorne could be afraid of a creature so lovely and innocent.

"Oh, I can't wait to tell Cinder!" Cress said gleefully.

Thorne paled.

That April Fool's Day, Thorne refused to leave the Rampion when all of its past crew met up at the Eastern Commonwealth Palace. Naturally, then, Cinder released a swarm of butterflies aboard the ship, and Thorne ran out of it, yelling a string of curses at the former Lunar queen, amidst the many photographers and reporters. He refused to return to board the Rampion until it was confirmed that all the butterflies had been eradicated, and even then it took a couple of weeks.

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 **I love Thorne, so I just had to.**

 **Thanks for reading! I will update this soon.**


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